Incompetent public sector heads on notice

It is expected that many heads of state-run corporations will be changed.

Officials of the Ministry of Planning and Budget say that people think the public sector, particularly state-run companies, is lacking in reform out of the four sectors that are subject to reform. In this connection, heads of companies with poor performances will be sacked as part of the reform process, they said.

Such a decision was made as many point out the restructuring of the public sector is far from completion, although the accumulated severance pay system has been removed along with manpower reduction under the restructuring program.

The ministry is evaluating the ability of company presidents through its management reform evaluation group, and it will announce the list of president who will be sacked at the end of the year.

The evaluation will be based on the president's management capability, reorganization, improvement in performance and other factors. If there are any who were paid excessively high salaries compared with ability, they will be considered as persons who received preference and will be laid off.

In particular, the ministry plans to build a system to replace incompetent top executive of state-run corporations in order to avoid criticism that they have received preference based on their personal connections or region of origin.

Lee Hoon dreamland@donga.com